Reclining chair with horizontally maintained canopy



y 1956 D. OBRADOVICH 2,747,653

RECLINING CHAIR WITH HORIZONTALLY MAINTAINED CANOPY Filed July 17, 1952I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR DRAGO OBRADOViCH May 29, 1956 D. OBRADOVICHRECLINING CHAIR WITH HORIZONTALLY MAINTAINED CANOPY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed July 17, 1952 INVENTOR DRAGO OBRADOVICH a; ,flwsy United StatesPatent 9 RECLINING CHAIR WITH HORIZONTALLY MAINTAINED CANOPY DragoObradovich, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application July 17, 1952, SerialNo. 299,318

13 Claims. (Cl. 155106)' This invention relates to reclining chairs andmore specifically to a reclining deck or lawn chair.

In the present deck or law-type chairs it is quite customary to providea canopy to shield the face of the person using the chair. In theadjustment of the chair to different positions of recline however thecanopy, which is normally fixed to the back of the chair, tilts anduncoversthe occupant as the chair moves to full reclining position andhe loses the benefit of its protection at the time it is most required.

In addition, while it is customary to provide for adjustment of thereclining position of the chair such adjustment cannot be effected bythe occupant from his seated or reclining position.

The principal objectof this invention is to provide a reclining chairwhich can be quickly and easily adjusted to the desired position ofrecline by the accupant without getting out of the chair and which willat all positions of recline maintain a protective shading-of theoccupant.

A further important object is to provide a chair as aforesaid which canbe conveniently collapsedi to a compactportable bundle.

The principal feature of the invention resides in supporting a swingingframe assembly from a fixed frame to support the back and seat of thechair for adjusted positions of incline, mounting a canopy on the swingframe for angular adjustment relative thereto and operating the canopyby means under control of the swinging of the swing or chair frame tomaintain the canopy in a posi tion shading the occupant.

A further important feature resides informing the swing or chair frameas a pair of substantially parallel frames pivoted to said fixed frame,the one intermediate its length, and forming the back frame and the.other at its upper end and connecting the lower ends of the parallelframes with a horizontal frame, the back andseat being formed by aflexible fabric secured to the: back frame adjacent the top thereof,leading overthe front: frame adjacent the top. thereof and fixed to thehorizontal. frame rearwardly of its forward edge to define a back andseat between the upper ends of the front and rear frames and a leg restbetween the upper and lower portions of the front frame, allself-adjusting to accommodate the occupant upon his shifting-his weightto pivot the rear frame about its connection with the fixed frame.

Still a further feature resides in constructing the fixed frame as acollapsing frame.

These and other objects and features will become ap parent withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sideelevational view of a chair constructed in accordance with the inventionand showing the chair and canopy in reclining position in dotted line.

Figure 2 is an enlarged elevational detail of the upper end of the backframe and canopy with the back frame in upright position.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but with theback frame ininclined position.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevational detail showing the canopy swung toa collapsed position.

Figure 5 is a perspective detail of the break joint of the brace of thesupport frame.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the chair in upright position.

Figure 7 is a perspective viewillustrating the chair in collapsedposition.

Figure 8 is an enlarged vertical sectional detail of thecanopy-operating mechanism.

Figure 9 is' a part side elevational part vertical sectional detailshowing the canopy-operating mechanism from a position at right anglesto Figure 8.

Figure 10 is a vertical sectional detail showing the canopy-operatingmechanism in collapsed position.

Referring to Figures 1 and 6, the chair in extended position comprises afixed frame formed by the front leg frame 1, the rear leg frame 2 andthe arms 3' held in extended position by the side cross braces 4 and 5.The front and rear leg frames are pivotally connected to the arms, andas shown particularly in Figure 5 the cross brace 5 is formed with abreak joint 6- and carries a pin 7 adapted to fit into the orifice 8 ofthe cross brace 4.

With a pin entered in the orifice the braces are firmly held in thepositions of Figures 1 and 6, but upon removal of the pin from theorifice cross brace 5 is free to collapse to permit the chair tocollapse to the position of Figure 7".

Suspended between the arms 3' is a swinging chair frame comprising aback frame 9 pivoted intermediate its height but closer to the bottomthan top on the same pivots 10' Which connect the rear legs and arms,and a front frame-11 suspended from the pivots 12 which connectthefrontlegs and the arms. Connecting the back and front frames 9-and 11 is ahorizontal frame-13 which permits free swinging movement of the back andfront frames while maintaining a substantially horizontal position; asshown particularly in Figure l.

Secured to the top-of the-back frame 9 is a flexible fabric 14, such ascanvas, duck, etc., and this fabric is led over the top of the frontframe 11 and is secured to the horizontal frame 13 at a distancerearwardly from the forward end thereof.

The reachof fabric between the upper ends of the front and back frames11 and 9 defines the seat and-back of the chair. Thereach of fabricbetween the upper end of the front frame 11 and horizontal frame 13forms a leg rest; The bar 15 defining the forward end of the horizontalframe comprises a footrest.

In reclining itwill be obvious from Figure 1 and from Figure 6 thatupon; an occupant leaning rearwardly he can shift his weight so that theback frame 9 will be overbalanced andturnon the pivots 10 and can bemoved from the solid line showing of Figure l to the dotted line showingagainst stop 9'.

It will be noted that not only are the seat and back, asformed bytheupper portion of the fabric 14, reclining, but the leg rest asconstituted by the lower portion of the fabric 14 is raising, as is thefoot rest 15, to give full support to the legs and feet of. the occupantin any position of recline.

Carried by the upper end of the back frame 9 of the: chair is a canopy,generally designated at 16. The support for the canopy'comprises a pairof sleeves 17 fitting the upper ends of the sides of the. back 9 of thechair. frame, with pins 18 limiting'downward movement.

Pivoted at 17-' to the rear of each of the sleeves 17 at each sideof-the chair is a channel shape' bar 19 havingan arcuate end 20connecting to the sleeve, and adjacent this arcuate end there is pivotedthereto a second channel bar 21' which is of a sizeto be received in.bar 19 when; swung, into. alignment. therewith; as. illustrated inFigure 2 and Figure 10. These bars support a frame 22 carrying thecanopy proper for adjustment longitudi nally thereof to different shadepositions.

Thebar 21 is pivoted to the canopy frame at 23 in a slot 24 and the bar19 is pivoted thereto at 25. Thebar'zl is normally prevented fromlapproaching back 9' by a brace tube 26 carrying threaded plugs 27 atthe ends thereof, Figures 8 and 9, to pivotally connect with a lugprojection 28 and a pivoted link 29 carried by the sleeve 17 andbar21.respectively. i a

The pivotal connection between the lug projection 28 and tube 26 isaiforded by a removable pin 30 to permit this connection to be released.The tube 26 extends upwardly through a slot 19' in the bar 19 and, asshown in Figures 8 and 9, has arranged therein a compression spring 31which engages a bar 32 extending through slots 33 in the tube andcarried by a sleeve 34 which bears on a plate 35 secured to theunderside of the bar 19 and having an inwardly ofiset portion 36 towhich is connected an operating cord 37.

The spring 31 urges the sleeve 34 and hence bar 19 upwardly on tube 26to collapse the bars 19 and 21 into alignment. The operator cord 37 isled over a pulley 38 on the back frame 9 of the chair over a pulley 39adjacent the pivotal connection between the back and horizontal frames 9and 13 and is secured at 39 adjacent the forward end of the horizontalframe.

It will be noted in Figure 1 that the portion 40 of th operating cord,which is' preferably a strong wire, forms one side of the trianglecompleted by the horizontal frame 13 and the lower end portion 41 of theback frame 9, and thus when the chair is swung to thereclining positionand the frame portion 41 and horizontal frame 13 approach alignment thewire portion 40 must be elongated to approach the sum of the other twosides of the triangle and this elongation pulls the cord or wiredownwardly.

Downward movement is translated from the cord through the plate 35pivoting bar 19 downwardly against action of the spring 31. Downwardmovement of bar 19 operates o'nthe canopy frame 22 to pull the forwardend of the canopy downwardly in opposition to upward movement of itsrearward end as the bar 21 is swung in a counterclockwise directionabout its pivot 21 to accommodate movement of bar 19 about its pivot 17'while tube 26 maintains separation of bar 21 and back 9.

The slide connection 24 between the bar 21 and canopy frame permits therelative movement of bars 19 and 21. The result is that, as the chairreclines, the canopy, instead of pointing Skyward as it would if it werestationarily mounted on the chair, is operated to move'from a positionslightly above the horizontal with the chair upright to a positionslightly below the horizontal'with the chair inclined, as illustrated inFigure 1 and Figures 2 and 3, with the result that the occupant will atall times be completely shaded and protected irrespective of theposition to which he reclines the chair.

'The tilting efiect obtained by raising the rearward end of the canopyand pulling the forward end downwardly is automatically under control ofthe chair as'it swings. The degree of movement can be adjusted bysuitably se-. lecting the position of pulley 39 adjacent the bottom, ofthe back frame 9 to provide the triangle eflect described.

By removing the pin 30the tube'26 can be released from the lugprojection 28 and the whole canopy assembly swung about the pivot 25 tothe collapsed position of Figure 4. Alternatively, the whole canopyassembly can be removed by sliding the sleeves 17 Oh? the ends of theback frame 9.

Either with the canopy collapsed to the position of Figure 4 or removedthe pin 7 on cross brace'S can be pulled outwardly from the orifice inthe cross brace 4 and the whole assembly then collapsed to the positionof Figure 7. v

To allow the canopy assembly to collapse as shown in Figure 4 thepivotal link 29connecting the tube 26 to the bar 21 is of a length toextend through bar 19 when these'bars are collapsed together as shown inFigure 10. The upper portion of the sleeve 34 at the rear is split as at42, allowing tube 26 to pivot into parallelism with bars 21' and 19.

It will be understood that the details of construction may vary or bemodified without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a reclining chair, a support frame, a back and seat, meansswingably supporting said back and seat from said frame for continuousadjustment under shifting of an occupants weight, a canopysupported forangular adjustment relative said back, and means controlled by theswinging of said back and seat to continuously maintain said canopysubstantially horizontal throughout the range of continuous adjustmentof said back and seat, said canopy being supported solely on said back.

2. In a reclining chair construction, a support structure pivotallysupporting a reclining chair frame, said reclining chair frame having aback and seat thereon and being continuously adjustable under shiftingof an occupants weight over a range of inclination, a canopy supportedsolely'on said frame and mounted for angular adjustment relativethereto, means including a resilient element adapted to alter theangular relation of said. canopy and frame through a continuous range ofadjust ment while maintaining said canopy ina substantially horizontalposition and means' govered by the movement of said reclining chairframe controlling said canopy-altering means. i p 7 3. In a recliningchair, a recliningchair frame having a back and seat, a canopy solelysupported from the upper end of said frame for tilt adjustment relativeto said frame about horizontal pivots, pivotal means for supporting saidcanopy in an initial position relative said back with said chair framein upright chair position, spring means urging said canopy to initialposition, and means governed by the movement of said chair frame fromupright chair position operating said canopy supportingmeans inopposition to said spring means. V

4. In a reclining chair a support structure pivotally supporting areclining back frame, said reclining back frame being continuouslyadjustable under shifting of an occupants weight over a range ofinclination, a canopy frame supported solely from the upper end of saidback frame to tilt relative said back frame, the support for said canopyframe including a pair of relatively movable support members pivoted onthe back frame and pivoted and slidable on' the canopy frame operable totilt said canopy frame, and means controlled by a. reclining movement,of the back frame to efiect' relative movement of said support members.i j i 5. In a reclining chair, a support structure pivotaJlyisup-iporting a reclining-chair frame, said reclining chair frame presenting areclining back and a seat, a canopy, a first bar pivoted to said frameand pivotedto. said canopy, a

I brace projecting through said bar pivoted to said frame, a

second bar to which said brace is secured pivoted at one end to saidfirst bar and pivoted atv the other end to said; canopy rearwardly ofthe pivotal connection between said first'bar and canopy, spring meansurging said :first bar towards said second bar to elevate the forwardend of said canopy, and means governed by; reclining movement of thechair frame to operate said first bar against said spring to depresstheforward end of said canopy.- V V a 6: A device as claimed'in claim '5 inwhich said brace is a tube pivoted to the back'of the chair frame andsaid second bar, a'sleeve sliding on said tube below and bearingonsaidfirst bar, and carrying amember projecting through a'slot-in saidtube, said spring being arranged within said tube and bearing againstsaid projecting member carried by said sleeve to urge'saidsleeveupwardly.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6 in which said means governed byreclining movement of the chair frame to operate said first barcomprises a flexible tension member connected to said first bar and apoint on said chair frame and having a path between a point adjacent tothe upper end of the back of said chair frame and its point ofconnection with said chair frame, said tension member increasing inlength upon reclining of said chair frame.

8v A device as claimed in claim 5 in which said chair frame includes areclining back frame pivoted intermediate its height to said supportframe, and a horizontal frame pivoted to said back frame, and the meansfor operating said first bar against said spring means comprises aflexible cord-like member secured to said first bar and to saidhorizontal frame forwardly of said back frame, and means constrainingsaid cordlike member to a path leading from its point of connection tosaid horizontal frame to a point on said back frame above saidhorizontal frame to present a cord length forming the third side of atriangle having the other two sides formed by portions of said back andhorizontal frames, said third side increasing in length upon said backframe leg reclining.

9. A reclining chair comprising a support frame, a back frame pivotedintermediate its length to said support frame, a front frame suspendedfrom said support frame, horizontal bars connecting the lower ends ofsaid back and front frames, a flexible fabric secured to the top of saidback frame led over the top of said front frame and connected to saidback and front frame connecting bars adjacent the lower end of saidfront frame, a bar at least at one side of said back frame supportedfrom the upper end thereof and projecting therefrom, a canopy pivoted tosaid bar on a sliding pivotal connec tion, a second bar pivotallycarrying said first bar pivoted to said back frame and pivoted to saidcanopy forwardly of the connection between said canopy and first bar, atube bracing said first bar from said back frame, a sleeve sliding onsaid tube and engaging said second bar and carrying a member projectingthrough a slot in said tube, a spring in said tube engaging said lattermember forcing said sleeve toward said first bar, said sleeve engagingsaid second bar to urge same toward said first bar, and a flexiblecord-like member secured to said second bar led down said back frame andsecured to the forward end of one of said horizontal bars, saidcord-like member 6 cutting across the angle formed by the lower end ofsaid back frame and said latter bar.

10. A chair as claimed in claim 9 in which said support frame comprisesfront and rear legs pivotally connected to arms, and cross bracesextending angularly across between the front and rear legs 'at oppositesides of the chair and intersecting at a point between the front andrear legs at each side, one of said braces having a joint therein, andmeans locking said braces at their points of intersection to maintainsaid braces rigid and releasable whereby said jointed brace can collapseto enable said support frame to collapse.

11. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which said tube is releasable fromsaid back frame and said bars supported from said back frame for pivotalmovement may collapse against said back frame with said tube releasedfrom said back frame.

12. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which the bars of said canopy aresupported from sleeve brackets slidably received on the upper end ofsaid back frame and removable therefrom.

13. In a reclining chair construction, a reclining chair frame having aback and seat, a canopy, means supporting said canopy solely from theupper end of said frame for tilt adjustment relative to said back, saidsupport means including a pair of pivotally connected members carried bysaid frame and connected to said canopy and relatively movable abouttheir pivotal connection to tilt said canopy, and means governed bymovement of said chair frame to effect relative pivotal movement of saidmembers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS788,656 Landkamer May 2, 1905 1,429,043 Martin Sept. 12, 1922 1,443,921Mackenzie Jan. 30, 1923 2,473,745 Di Renzo June 21, 1929 2,505,702Benjamin Apr. 25, 1950 2,561,886 Rikelman July 24, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS43,980 Germany July 20, 1888 660,904 France July 18, 1929

